About 50 percent of the public said that a local COVID-19 outbreak had reduced their income by 10 to 50 percent, severely constraining their ability to honor mortgage and credit card obligations, a survey released yesterday by Chinatrust Real Estate Co (中信房屋) found.
The survey came after the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) last week said that the public health crisis raised the unemployment rate for May to 4.11 percent, putting 126,000 people out of work.
Last month, the situation likely deteriorated further due to lingering restrictions on movement and gatherings, the DGBAS said.
Photo: CNA
The results showed that 49.6 percent of respondents said that a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert had negatively affected their incomes, with reductions of 10 to 50 percent over the past two months.
Ten to 16 percent of respondents said that income erosion had made it more difficult to pay their mortgage and credit card bills.
Chinatrust Real Estate said that people should not suspend debt payments without the creditor’s prior approval, as that would damage their credit history and make dealings with the creditor more difficult.
On a NT$10 million (US$357,181) house with a 20-year mortgage at 1.31 percent interest, people typically have a monthly mortgage payment of NT$47,000, the real-estate broker said, adding that this is a heavy financial burden for homeowners who have had their hours reduced, been furloughed or lost their jobs due to the outbreak.
In May, the average take-home pay fell 12.05 percent for jobs in the entertainment and recreational sectors, 4.68 percent in the hospitality industry and up to 5.2 percent for other service-sector jobs, DGBAS data released on Monday showed.
People unable to pay their creditors should contact them and request a grace period, a moratorium or some other arrangement that could extend their overall debt payment schedule, but avoid punitive consequences, Chinatrust Real Estate said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan